


Detainment

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Series: Birthdays [2]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Birthday, Developing Relationship, Friendship, M/M, Stretching the boundaries of what's permitted under law, but how is that any different than 98 percent of what the show does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 19:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: Bad enough that Barba was forced to take a meeting with the man.Even worse that Barba had been forced to meet Buchanan at his law firm rather than 1 Hogan Place. Barba greatly preferred to meet on his own turf, especially when it came to any meetings involving Buchanan.But worst of all was that the meeting in question had fallen on his birthday.





	Detainment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AHumanFemale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHumanFemale/gifts).



> For my darling AHumanFemale. You know all the things I would say, so I won't waste time repeating them here. Just know that I love you and I wish you the happiest of birthdays <3
> 
> Since AHF routinely has to drive long distances as part of her job and therefore prefers audiobooks, I've made a quick podfic of me and my terrible Chicago accent reading this fic, and figured I may as well include it in case any one else is interested.
> 
> [Download (mp3) here.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x96dgSepkvYnTYGPHZVSSVuKcltKk7DN/view) 
> 
> Other than that, usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

Barba glared up at the clock as if it had personally offended him, which, in some ways, it had.

He’d been sitting in the conference room at John Buchanan’s law firm for over a half hour and the man himself had yet to make an appearance.

Bad enough that Barba was forced to take a meeting with the man — “I tried to postpone it again,” Carmen had said, a hair exasperated as she handed him the relevant casefile, “but he threatened to go to Judge Barth to tell her that you were purposefully impeding his client’s right to a fair and speedy trial”, which, fair enough because Barba was, but he didn’t particularly want to get Barth involved.

Even worse that Barba had been forced to meet Buchanan at his law firm rather than 1 Hogan Place. Barba greatly preferred to meet on his own turf, especially when it came to any meetings involving Buchanan.

But worst of all was that the meeting in question had fallen on his birthday.

As a man on the far side of 45 and approaching 50 more rapidly than he cared to think, Barba had long since stopped caring about his birthday, but that didn’t mean that he wanted the day to be even more dismal than it was ordinarily bound to be.

And a meeting with Buchanan sure as shit counted as dismal.

The door opened and Barba straightened automatically, his scowl deepening when Buchanan’s secretary poked her head in the room. “Mr. Barba, I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting,” she said, already cringing, and Barba glared at her.

“Do you have any kind of estimate on when Mr. Buchanan intends on showing up?” he asked frostily, trying to hold back as much of his ire as he could, since it wasn’t the poor woman’s fault that Buchanan had chosen not to show up (especially since nothing pissed Barba off more than when someone was rude to Carmen for something out of her control).

“I haven’t been able to reach him on his cell—” she started and Barba stood, swiftly buttoning his suit jacket.

“Very well, since I clearly see where I rank in importance, be sure to tell John when you see him that he’ll have little luck of convincing Judge Barth that I’m the one doing the impeding when he couldn’t bother showing up to his own meeting.”

With that, he grabbed his briefcase and swept from the room, ignoring Buchanan’s secretary as she trailed after him. “Please, Mr. Barba,” she pleaded, following him to the elevator. “Let me reschedule, I’m sure we can find a new time that works for both of you—”

Barba jabbed the button for the elevator and turned to give her a look. “Don’t bother,” he told her. “Clearly if John’s willing to waste my time then he’s willing to meet me in court.” With a perfect sense of timing, the elevator doors slid open and Barba stepped inside. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

As the elevator doors slid closed, Barba checked his watch and grinned. He had cleared his entire schedule for this meeting, meaning he had the entire rest of the day free.

For the first time in longer than he cared to admit, his birthday was looking up.

* * *

 

Barba’s exhilaration at having his day free was dimmed somewhat by the realization that he had no idea what to do with free time — which was pathetic in an of itself — but he decided at the very least he could swing by the 16th precinct and wheedle Olivia into getting an early drink with him.

When he arrived at the precinct, however, things appeared to be in the particular brand of controlled chaos that SVU thrived on. Olivia was nowhere to be found, and only Fin was in the bullpen, sitting at his desk and looking completely unbothered by the whirlwind of activity going on around him.

“Oh, hey, Counselor,” Fin said, glancing up at him. “Liv’s not here.”

“I see that,” Barba said, raising an eyebrow at him. “And where is the rest of your rag-tag band?”

Fin shrugged languidly as two patrol cops tackled a perp attempting to flee behind him. “Amanda’s out with Liv. Carisi…” He trailed off, glancing around as if realizing for the first time that the lanky detective wasn’t at his desk. “I dunno where he is. Maybe check interrogation? Or the cage?”

Barba grunted in response but made his way over to the interrogation rooms, which were all in use, but none by Carisi. Ordinarily, Barba would’ve hesitated at searching Carisi out, knowing that some people might read a little too far into it, but his curiosity was piqued and he couldn’t help himself.

He wandered toward holding, brightening when he saw Carisi holding the cell door open for someone. “Just you wait, Detective,” someone was saying in a voice that Barba almost recognized. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t sue.”

Carisi took a step back to let the man pass and Barba froze, doing what had to have been a fairly comical doubletake as he saw Buchanan scowling and making his way out of the cell. “Sorry for the misunderstanding, Counselor,” Carisi said, sounding cheerful and completely unfazed by Buchanan’s threat. “But as you know, we’re allowed to hold you for up to 24 hours without charging you, and since you never requested to talk to your lawyer…”

“Well, I’ll certainly be talking to my lawyer now,” Buchanan snapped, brushing past both Carisi and Barba without seemingly seeing him.

Barba looked back at Carisi, a slow grin spreading across his face. “You locked John Buchanan in holding for 24 hours?” he asked, delighted.

Carisi snorted, his own smile a little grim. “Nah, it wasn’t the full 24 hours,” he said dismissively. “Barely even 3. But what can I say…” He shrugged. “He matched the description of a perp and refused to cooperate with our investigation.”

Barba’s smile widened. “Please tell me there’s video footage.”

“Of course there is,” Carisi told him. “I already made a note to send Carmen a copy.”

“God,” Barba said appreciatively, watching Buchanan disappear down the hallway. “Buchanan in lockup. What is it, my birth—”

He broke off with sudden realization. It _was_ his birthday, and Carisi had just, inadvertently or otherwise, given him the best birthday present in recent memory. Something of his realization must’ve shown on his face, because Carisi’s grin softened and he winked at Barba. “Happy Birthday, Counselor.”

Barba shook his head slowly. “I assume Carmen had something to do with this,” he said, more rhetorically than anything, and Carisi just smirked at him.

“Anyway,” Carisi said, clearly not intending on answering his question, “I think we’re all planning on meeting at Forlini’s tonight. You should, uh, join us.”

“Why, are you celebrating anything in particular, Detective?” Barba asked, amused. Carisi just laughed and shook his head before starting to head back toward his desk, though he paused when Barba caught his arm. “Thank you,” he said, his voice low, sincerity underlining his words.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re thanking me for,” Carisi told him, a small smile curving the corners of his mouth. “I was just doing my job.” He winked again and squeezed Barba’s hand for just a moment. “But you’re welcome. And believe me — it was my pleasure.”

Both men had to laugh at that, and when they finally stopped, Carisi cocked his head slightly and asked, “So I’ll see you tonight?”

There was something deeper to the question, which had a very simple answer, a deeper hope that Barba wasn’t necessarily willing to think all that much about but probably had a lot to do with Carisi’s hand still laced with his. He half-smiled. “Oh, yes,” he said, his voice low, hoping that Carisi could read the heat in his voice. “Yes, I’ll see you tonight.”

Judging by the way Carisi ducked his head and grinned, he knew exactly what Barba meant.

And judging by the slight pink that rose in his cheeks, he knew exactly how Barba intended to return the favor.

It was, Barba reflected, watching as Carisi made his way back to his desk, one of his best birthdays in recent years.

His smirk turned almost predatory as Carisi paused at Fin’s desk, bending over and angling himself as if he intended on giving Barba the perfect view.

And the best part was, his birthday wasn’t over yet.


End file.
